Lucy's legacy lives on at 'Fly-Away'

AMESBURY — When Lucy Grogan was sick with leukemia, she received thousands of gifts, from local friends to strangers in Texas.

Her mother, Beecher Grogan, said a multitude of them had a butterfly theme, from clothing to note pads to figurines.

"I saw a sign there. I thought, 'This is a beautiful child that has a short life,'" she said.

Lucy lost her cancer battle in 2006 at age 12. After she died, Grogan said she and her family found themselves surrounded by butterflies.

"They were everywhere, at the church for the funeral. Even the guys from the funeral home, they noticed, they said to me, 'Did you see that?'" she said. "They were all around us. We feel that it's Lucy."

With Lucy and other cancer sufferers in mind, the skies over Woodsom Farm will come alive with butterfilies this weekend. On Sunday, 1,200 monarch butterflies will be released over the field as part of a "Fly-Away," a festival that celebrates those who have lost their battle with cancer and those who are still fighting.

The event will benefit Lucy's Love Bus, a nonprofit inspired by Lucy for integrative treatment for children.

The Fly-Away Festival starts at noon, with pony rides, crafts for kids, sports challenges and live music from members of the Brew, Errata, Nathan Osmond and Ahmir, an R&B sensation seen on MTV. Flatbread Company is not only donating materials and staff, but also bringing their whole pizza oven to Woodsom to keep everyone well fed.

The butterflies, purchased from Swallowtail Farms in California, will be shipped to Amesbury overnight and released at the end of the festival.

The monarchs be purchased, or sponsored, for $15 each, to commemorate someone who has fought cancer.

While everyone who purchased one won't be able to actually release a butterfly, 100 children who are currently battling cancer will take the stage to lead the release. The money raised at the festival will go toward therapy grants, hearing aids and any other expense that arise for families that have loved ones affected by cancer.

"They're beautiful, brilliant monarchs; the release will be gorgeous," said Grogan. "This is all to generate excitement and enthusiasm for what we're doing with the Love Bus."

Lessons from Lucy

Lucy's Love Bus was the answer to a question that anyone who has watched a loved one battle cancer asks: What can I do to help? For someone on the sidelines, a feeling of helplessness often seeps in, leaving idle hands wishing they had a task, a mission, anything to help.

For Grogan, the Fly-Away and Love Bus are something she can do, something that alleviates the pain of helplessness.

Lucy went through a round of painful treatments, then enjoyed four years of remission in which her hair and the light in her eye came back before her cancer, acute myeloid leukemia, returned and sent her back to the hospital.

In the midst of such a hard fight, Lucy considered herself lucky: She had an enormous amount of support from the community around her. Her cancer all but destroyed her immune system, so Lucy's hospital room was her home, as well as her mother's.

"We lived in that hospital for years," Grogan said. "She couldn't go anywhere, and I couldn't work. We had a huge amount of support from the community. They took care of everything we needed — copays for medication, when she wanted to look into integrative therapy treatments — massage, reiki, acupuncture — that was all taken care of. I'd never seen anything like it, and it was all so heartwarming. It's the silver lining of the cancer thing — you have no idea how good people are."

A few weeks before she passed away, Lucy, a child with a heart and a head seemingly light years beyond her actual age, expressed a wish that other children would have what she had — support.

"We were just lying in bed, reflecting, and she said to me, 'I know the only reason I have this help is because our community gave it to me, and when I'm done with all this, I want to make sure my friends get the same resources I've had.'

"She looked around and realized the kids at the hospital didn't get to do the integrative therapy she did, and she wanted to give that to them. She felt like there wasn't enough being done to comfort the physical and emotional trauma of cancer," Grogan said.

For a mother grieving the loss of a child, it was a call to action.

Starting the bus

Lucy's Love Bus, the organization, had already been around for years. The name came courtesy of Rob Ouellette of Amesbury Skate and Sport, who drove a "big van of family and love," Grogan said, and donated the name.

The Love Bus was formed by Lucy when her best friend, Emily, needed a bone marrow donor. Emily had Native American blood and a match would be difficult if not impossible to find. Ten thousand new donors registered after learning about the little girl who was trying to save her best friend's life. A donor was never found, and Emily died three months before Lucy, but for a child confined to a hospital room, a great comfort can be found in knowing that 10,000 people want to help you.

Three years after Lucy's passing, that talk in the hospital bed kept playing in Grogan's head.

"Lucy gave me a reason to get up, get my mojo back and have the consistent energy to get something done," she said. "I always wanted to do a release of butterflies, and I was ready to make it happen. I just thought it would be a fun way to celebrate."

A senior member at Grogan's work had an old VW van in her drive and sold it to her for $1, and with an actual love bus, the ball was rolling. By New Year's Eve in 2009, Grogan was wondering how to make the "Fly-Away" a reality.

"It had really helped me to do all this for Lucy, and there were a lot of kids who were so good to her, her friends who were always there for her. I thought it would help them to help me with this," she said.

With that, Lucy's Teen Leaders was born. Every other week for nine months, 22 kids gathered at Grogan's house. The logos are theirs, the T-shirt designs as well. They were there every session, rain or shine. The kids were the big thinkers, the big picture guys, with the parents chipping in and taking care of the nitty-gritty work.

Grogan's two other children, Jane, now 12 and Eli (Bartlett), 5, participated as well. Sparhawk School, which Lucy attended after her treatments, got involved. The children there are creating a butterfly wind sculpture for the Fly-Away, origami butterflies with the names of loved ones stenciled on them in a sculpture at the top of Woodsom's hill, for participants to walk through.

"It's going to be very emotional, I'm sure, but also very uplifting," Grogan said. "I'd like this to be an annual thing. We'll have to see if I'm up for that."

• • •

For information on the Fly-Away and Lucy's Love Bus, to donate or to see photos of the little girl who started it all, visit www.lucyslovebus.org.

Local News

Search Results

Related Photos

Discussion

Site Map

Contact Us